Fatal crash driver was forbidden

College comes to terms with teen's death

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The man at the wheel of a car that crashed on the Kaimai Ranges, killing his teenage passenger, was a forbidden driver.

Waikato Police revealed the detail of the fatal collision today as Matamata College students come to terms with the death of fellow pupil Jasmine Clothier.

The 17-year-old was a passenger in a vehicle heading up the Waikato side of the Kaimai Range about 4pm on Saturday.

Initial indications from the crash scene suggest the car she was travelling in crossed the centreline and collided with an oncoming car, Waikato road policing manager, Inspector Freda Grace said.

She could not say what caused the man at the wheel to veer into oncoming traffic, yet Waikato Police communications manager Andrew McAlley revealed today that police had earlier forbidden him to drive.

''He should not have been driving in that fatal crash.''

Firefighters tried to cut Clothier free of the wreckage but she died at the scene.

Forbidden drivers do not have a current driver's licence. It is not a court imposed condition yet police use it after stopping a driver who, for some reason, is unlicensed. After a driver is caught again they can be charged with driving while forbidden and their car seized.

While Grace could not say what caused the fatal collision, conditions were wet at the time.

''Whilst the Kaimai Range is designated 100kmh zone there are numerous parts on it that would suggest that's too fast,'' she said. ''If you have a whole lot of other conditions - it may be the condition of the car, driver or weather - under any set of circumstance you should be driving to a lesser speed.